Pink Gemstones: A Guide to Colored Stones

When it comes to colored gemstones, color is king. Today, many customers prioritize color and are less concerned with the actual gemstone variety as long as the stone is durable enough for their purpose.

Pink Andalusite

Andalusite is a lesser-known gem that gets its name from Andalusia, where it was first found, though it is now found in many places, such as Australia, Myanmar, Russia, Canada, Brazil, Sri Lanka and the USA. It shares the same composition as sillimanite and kyanite (aluminum silicate), making all three minerals polymorphs; minerals with the same composition, but different crystal structure. Andalusite has strong pleochroism; the ability to exhibit different colors from different angles. This pleochroism gives andalusite unique combinations of color, which include yellow, brown, olive, reddish and pink.

Pink Andesine Labradorite

Andesine labradorite is a relatively new gemstone type that can be reddish-orange, red, white, gray, champagne-colored or light-pink. It is a color-enhanced labradorite variety that is also traded as simply "andesine", "red labradorite", Congo sunstone or "red feldspar". Andesine labradorite has a faint labradorescence, giving it a metallic schiller. Unlike unenhanced labradorite, andesine labradorite is usually faceted, rather than cut en cabochon because the color and transparency is best showcased this way.

Pink Sapphire

Pink sapphire is arguably the most popular pink gemstone and a more affordable alternative to pink diamond. Pink sapphire is corundum; the same material that ruby is composed of and the second-hardest material on earth (diamond is the hardest). While blue sapphire is the best-known and most popular color for sapphire, fancy pink sapphire is actually rarer, especially in intense colors. Pink sapphire may be pastel or bright pink, and can vary between warm peach-pink and violet-pink.

Pink Calcite

Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable form of calcium carbonate that occurs in various colors, including white, gray, orange, yellow, green, blue, red and pink. Since calcite is relatively soft compared to other gemstones, it is more often seen in mineral collections than jewelry. Pink calcite gemstones are are transparent to opaque with a vitreous luster and range from pale pink to intense pink. Gemstone-quality calcite is found in several regions including the Congo, Mexico and Spain.

Pink Chalcedony

Chalcedony is a member of the quartz group of gemstones; more specifically, it is cryptocrystalline quartz and can have various colors and patterns. Thus, chalcedony is traded by varietal names, such as "crazy lace" agate, banded agate and jasper, though chalcedony in the narrow sense refers to light, uniformly-colored chalcedony. Its name is thought to have come from "Chalcedon", which was an ancient seaport now known as Kadikoy, in Turkey. Chalcedony is a hard and durable material that can be used for any kind of jewelry.

Pink Color Change Diaspore

Color change diaspore is a rare gemstone from Turkey that is also marketed as "Zultanite" or "Csarite". It is composed of aluminum oxide hydroxide and has the unique ability to change color under different lighting conditions. In daylight, color change diaspore appears yellow to green and when seen under incandescent light, it changes to peach or pink. It can be found in many different shapes and cutting styles and is perfect for any jewelry use.

Pink Color Change Garnet

Color change garnet is one of the rare varieties of garnet gemstones and can be many different colors, including green, brown, peach, bluish, purple, reddish or pink. Color change garnet gemstones are typically a mix of spessartite and pyrope garnet and tend to shift to a warmer color under incandescent light. The most frequently seen colors in color change garnet are brownish-green or bronze under daylight and rose or pink under incandescent light, though some stones may be peach to violet and change to pink.

Pink Color Change Sapphire

Color change sapphire is a rare, fancy corundum variety that exhibits a color change under different lighting conditions. Color change sapphire can occur in various colors, such as blue, greenish, yellowish, violet and pinkish. Under candlelight or other incandescent light, color change sapphire typically exhibits a warmer hue, for example, violet to rose pink. As with all corundum gemstones (sapphire and ruby), color change sapphire is an excellent jewelry gemstone. However, color change sapphire gems are extremely rare.

Pink Coral

Coral is an organic gem type that has been used in jewelry for centuries. Precious coral is a gemstone composed of calcium carbonate colored by carotenoid pigments and formed in deep water by coral polyps. Coral gemstones may be white, pink, golden, salmon or red and are often drilled as beads, cut en cabochon or carved. Some varieties of coral are protected, but others may be freely traded. Fossil coral is an attractive agatized coral with flower-like patterns that may also be pink and is more durable because of its chalcedony content.

Pink Diamond

Diamond is composed of pure carbon and is the hardest material on earth, with a Mohs hardness rating of 10. Pink diamond is a fancy and rare diamond color that is not often seen, therefore, as expected, pink diamond purchases require a high budget. The incredible hardness, brilliance and adamantine luster of diamond, along with clever marketing techniques, make diamonds one of the most popular gemstone types of all time. Colored diamond gemstones are graded by color intensity, with the highest saturation of color being the rarest and most valuable.

Pink Fluorite

Fluorite is a mineral made up of calcium fluoride and is known as "the most colorful mineral in the world" because it has such a wide variety of colors, including pink. An interesting thing about fluorite is that it has fluorescence. Pink fluorite is rarer than some of the other colors and may be uniform in color or multicolored. Pink fluorite gems may be pastel or purple-pink and are transparent to translucent with a vitreous luster.

Pink Jasper

Jasper is a type of opaque chalcedony that is assigned its own gem group because it has a grainy structure that differs from typical chalcedony. The name "jasper" comes from the Greek for "spotted stone" with reference to its multicolored spots, stripes and other patterns. The variegated appearance of jasper is owed to the fact that it is composed of up to twenty percent foreign materials. This means that each jasper gemstone is quite unique and there is an almost infinite variety of colors and patterns. Trade names for jasper incude "Moukaite"; pink to light-red jasper from Australia.

Pink Kunzite

Kunzite is a light-pink to violet spodumene gemstone named after American mineralogist, and vice president and buyer for Tiffany & Co., George Frederick Kunz. Kunzite was first discovered in the USA, but most kunzite gems are now mined in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where extremely large kunzite crystals can be found. For this reason, kunzite gemstones are perfect for cocktail rings and other statement jewelry designs that call for large stones. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight can cause kunzite gems to fade over time, so kunzite is best-suited for evening or occasional wear, rather than everyday outside wear.

Pink Lepidolite

Lepidolite is a lithium aluminum-rich mica mineral that has a lavender, yellowish, white or pink color. It may be pastel colored or a more striking, saturated reddish-pink. Lepidolite is an important source of lithium; the lightest metal in the world that has industrial uses in rechargeable batteries, aircraft parts and domestic appliances. When found in gemstone-quality, lepidolite is generally cut as cabochons, drilled, tumbled or carved into fancy shapes for collectors or for jewelry.

Pink Malaya Garnet

Malaya garnet (also spelled malaia) is a hybrid garnet that is mainly a mix of pyrope and spessartite. It is also known as "imperial garnet", but when it was discovered in the 1960s, it was assigned its less salubrious name; "malaya"; from a Swahili word meaning "outcast" or "prostitute". This negative name was from miners who could not sell it because it did not fall into any of the standard garnet categories. Happily, malaya garnet later became appreciated for its rarity and unique rose pink, peach and Madeira wine colors.

Pink Morganite

Morganite is a light-pink to salmon-colored member of the beryl group of gemstones, the same group as emerald, aquamarine and golden beryl. The association with emerald led to morganite first being known as "pink beryl", until it was named morganite in honor of American banker and gemstone collector, J.P. Morgan by George Frederick Kunz. Morganite is an extremely popular jewelry gemstone that is always in high demand, maybe because it is associated with love, romance and harmony.

Pink Opal

Pink opal is a rare common opal variety mainly from Peru that is valued for its pink color rather than color play like precious opal. It is the national stone of Peru and is also known as "pink Andean opal" because it is found in the Andes. Pink opal is a delicate pink, with deeper pink stones being rarer. Pink opal is actually a mixture of cristobalite, opal and palygorskite; the pink color comes from the palygorskite. Its mixed composition gives pink opal a slightly higher hardness rating than precious opal and a lower water content, making it more stable than precious opal.

Pink Pearl

Pearls are organic gemstones formed by shelled mollusks. They are made of nacre and are very rare in nature; therefore, pearls are often cultured, whereby an irritant is introduced to the mollusk shell to induce the production of a pearl. Pearls are found in various colors, which include white, silver, green, gold and pink. Pink pearls may have a peachy-pink or a silver-pink color. The most valued pearls have iridescence, which is known as "orient".

Pink Pezzottaite

Pezzottaite is a very rare gemstone that most people will not have heard of that was named after Federico Pezzotta, an Italian mineralogist who is currently mineralogy curator at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Milan. Pezzottaite was first found in Madagascar, a mineral-rich island that has seen many new gemstone deposits in the last 25 years or so. Its color ranges from light-pink to raspberry red; this fantastic color and its hardness led discoverers to first assume that it was red beryl.

Pink Rhodochrosite

Rhodochrosite is a manganese mineral with distinctive raspberry red and pink stripes. It is also called "manganesespar", with reference to its composition or "raspberryspar" because of its color. Other names given to rhodochrosite include "Inca rose stone" (Rosa del Inca). The name, "rhodochrosite" comes from the Greek word, "rhodokhros", meaning "rose colored". Rhodochrosite gemstones are mainly opaque cabochons or beads, with rare, faceted transparent rhodochrosite gemstones occasionally being seen.

Pink Rhodonite

Rhodonite is a manganese silicate gemstone which gets its name from the Greek word for rose, "rhodon". By composition it is related to rhodochrosite, but in appearance, rhodonite is different, due to its black dentritic inclusions. The pink color of rhodonite may be a soft rose-pink or a bright red color and the black inclusions may be sparse or abundant. Very rarely, rhodonite occurs as transparent red crystals, which are faceted. Rhodonite is the state gemstone for Massachusetts, and is also found in Australia, Finland, Russia and other locations around the world.

Pink Rhodolite Garnet

Rhodolite garnet is generally treasured for its beautiful, bright raspberry-red color, but is also known to be pink or purple. Pink rhodolite garnet colors range from rose pink to a fabulous hot pink, which is fitting, since the name, "rhodolite" comes from the Greek word, "rhodon", meaning rose. Rhodolite is a mix of pyrope and almandine garnet and was first found in the USA, though nowadays most rhodolite garnet gems come from other locations, such as Tanzania and Mozambique.

Pink Rose Quartz

Rose quartz is a translucent to transparent quartz gemstone that has a beautiful soft pink color and has long been associated with calmness, love and romance. It is an affordable pink gem that sometimes has a unique milky appearance due to inclusions. Stones with rutile inclusions can exhibit asterism (the star effect) and these are cut as cabochons. Rose quartz gemstones can be found in many different shapes, sizes and cuts, even fancy Asscher cuts and flower carvings.

Pink Smithsonite

Smithsonite is a gemstone-quality zinc carbonate named in honor of British chemist and mineralogist, James Smithson, who first described calamine as two distinct minerals; one of them being smithsonite. Smithsonite gemstones can be various colors, including blue, green, turquoise, purple and pink, depending on trace impurities. Purple and pink smithsonite coloring is owed to the presence of cobalt.

Pink Spinel

Pink spinel is a beautiful gemstone that has been mistaken for fine ruby and sapphire. It is composed of magnesium aluminum oxide and occurs in many colors, including blue, red, orange, yellow, black, light-pink, dark-pink and purple-pink. The luster, hardness (8 on the Mohs scale) and brilliance of pink spinel gemstones make them perfect for any jewelry. Vivid pink spinel gemstones weighing over 5 carats are a rare find and star spinel cabochons are even rarer.

Pink Star Rose Quartz

Star rose quartz is a variety of pink quartz that has parallel-aligned rutile inclusions that cause asterism (the star effect). Star rose quartz gems have six-rayed stars and a soft pink color that is translucent to transparent. The star can be best seen under focused light (for example, a flashlight); as the light source is moved, the rays of the star appear to move accordingly. The most valued star rose quartz stones are those with sharp, distinct stars. Star rose quartz is cut as cabochons, which may be used in any kind of jewelry.

Pink Taaffeite

Taaffeite is one of the rarest gemstones known. It was found in 1945 by Irish-Austrian gemologist, Count Edward Charles Richard Taaffe, hence the name. The gemstone was found in faceted form among a parcel of Sri Lankan spinel gems. Taaffeite can be colorless, violet, red, green, blue or a delicate pink color. It is hard enough for jewelry, with a Mohs hardness of 8.5; yet it is so rare that it is barely seen as a gemstone. To date, taaffeite has only been found in Sri Lanka and Tanzanite and the largest-known taaffeite stone weighs 33 carats.

Pink Topaz

Natural pink topaz is one of the most valuable and rarest topaz colors that used to be reserved exclusively for Russian tsars, leading to the trade name, "imperial topaz", a term which now describes rare, golden, red, lavender and peach topaz gemstones. Natural pink topaz is pale pink and is found in Pakistan. Bright pink topaz is the result of an enhancement whereby a thin coating is applied to change the color of white topaz gemstones.

Pink Tourmaline

Pink is just one of the many colors of tourmaline gemstones and has steadily been gaining popularity in recent years due to its versatility and wonderful choice of colors, which range from pastel pink to sizzling hot pink. Pink to red tourmaline that sometimes has a purplish hue is known as "rubellite tourmaline". Pink tourmaline is extremely durable, generally untreated and affordable in large sizes. It was mined from the USA in the 1800s and early 1900s, but nowadays most of the pink tourmaline gemstones available come from Mozambique.

Pink Zircon

Pink zircon is less well-known than most popular blue zircon and colorless zircon, which is used as an alternative to white diamond. Nevertheless, pink zircon is no less attractive than the former; in fact, there are some fabulous pink zircon gemstones, which range from pastel pink to rose pink or peach-pink. One of the interesting things about pink zircon stones is that they can appear a little fuzzy. This is the result of zircon's pronounced level of birefringence.